Denim on Denim

Denim on Denim is a collaborative piece made by artists Steven Frost and Frankie Toan. Drawing inspiration from queer denim fashion histories where the fabric was worn to signal membership in certain queer subcultures. Frost and Toan collected used denim from their own wardrobes, their friends, family, and thrift stores to create a rainbow of denim shades. These articles of clothing were then deconstructed and reconstructed into “shield” forms. This process mirrors the use of fashion as armor within queer communities, as well as the use of coded materials, accessories and embellishments deployed strategically to recognize and be recognizable to other queer folks. Frost and Toan traded compositions back and forth, working together and separately on the individual compositions. The collection of shields resulting from this process recalls individuals in a crowd coming together to give each other strength. Each denim shield has their own sensibility, yet there are small visual through lines tying them together in community, providing collective protection. They are arranged in a formation that mimics a viking shield wall where according to legend, overlapping shields provided better protection for soldiers than when they were used alone.

Collaboration with Steven Frost